Something old & something new – installations continue!

This week, one new research site was added to the WUEP pair-wise study and an older site was reinstalled.

With only the grasshoppers to keep us company, the day began at a homeowner property participating in Miami-Dade Extension’s Water Use Efficiency Program. This installation was a complete irrigation retrofit that encompassed the backflow prevention device, the mechanical timer, and the indexing valve.

In the rain, we installed an anti-siphon valve with emergency shut-off option, the soil moisture sensor system, electric valves, and a water meter on each of the two experimental zones.

The second installation was supposed to involve reviving a commercial property research site on well-water that went offline in early 2009. However, when we arrived at the location we learned that the sensor system on a nearby municipal water research site had burned out. This burned sensor had been providing solid water-use data since the summer of 2007. For the remainder of the day, we focused on installing a new sensor on the municipal water site - adding a few equipment flourishes previously overlooked: grease caps to protect wire connections from the elements and a junction box for easy future sensor retrieval or maintenance.

Stay tuned for the next installation: large commercial property, soil moisture sensor add-on device, and a well-water irrigation system!